title: Simultaneous determination of residues in pollen and high-fructose corn syrup from eight neonicotinoid insecticides by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: The neonicotinoids have recently been identified as a potential contributing factor to the sudden decline in adult honeybee population, commonly known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). To protect the health of honeybees and other pollinators, a new, simple, and sensitive liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of eight neonicotinoids, including acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, flonicamid, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam, in pollen and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In this method, eight neonicotinoids, along with their isotope-labeled internal standards, were extracted from 2 g of pollen or 5 g of HFCS using an optimized quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe extraction procedure. The method limits of detection in pollen and HFCS matrices were 0.03 ng/g for acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam and ranged between 0.03 and 0.1 ng/g for nitenpyram and flonicamid. The precision and accuracy were well within the acceptable 20% range. Selectivity, linearity, lower limit of quantitation, matrix effect, recovery, and stability in autosampler were also evaluated during validation. This validated method has been used successfully in analyzing a set of pollen and HFCS samples collected for evaluating potential honeybee exposure to neonicotinoids.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Chensheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D005632:Fructose / Q000032:analysis; D009574:Nitro Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D010573:Pesticide Residues / Q000737:chemistry*; D011058:Pollen / Q000737:chemistry*; D011725:Pyridines / Q000737:chemistry; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009574:Nitro Compounds; D010573:Pesticide Residues; D011725:Pyridines; D005632:Fructose